Capoue - Tour bonding is important

As with any team sport, bonding is vital, you must be a happy squad, a squad happy in each others company.

Yes there may be one or two who are not your cup of tea but by and large the group needs to get on to perform best.

Training together is simply not enough so pre-season tour take players out of the norm, puts them in a different situation for a prolonged period of time. The closeness helps to form bonds and the whispers coming out from training are that the players like Pochettino.

Those senior players that are in training at the moment he has won over. The upcoming USA and Canada tour will develop those bonds further, which was the view of midfielder Étienne Capoue.

“With the Premier League season just around the corner, the tour will be very good for team bonding. It can also boost team spirit when you all go away together and play against some of the biggest teams in the US and Canada.

“They’re good friendly games to play – it will be great to see Jermain Defoe again when we play Toronto – and all three teams have some very good players. It’s clear that the MLS is growing season by season.”

Capoue will be hoping he is free of injury this season having had a very disrupted first season which cost him his place in the French squad for the World Cup.